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Desperate Housewives
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Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series, created by Marc Cherry, who also serves as show runner, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producers, as of the fourth season, are Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W. Perkins, John Pardee and Joey Murphy, David Grossman, Larry Shaw and Sabrina Wind.
The setting of the show is the street of Wisteria Lane in the fictional American town of Fairview, Eagle State. It follows the lives of a group of women, seen through the eyes of their dead neighbor, as they work through domestic struggles and family life, while facing the secrets, crimes and mysteries hidden behind the doors of their – at the surface – beautiful suburban neighborhood.
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Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series, created by Marc Cherry, who also serves as show runner, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producers, as of the fourth season, are Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W. Perkins, John Pardee and Joey Murphy, David Grossman, Larry Shaw and Sabrina Wind.
The setting of the show is the street of Wisteria Lane in the fictional American town of Fairview, Eagle State. It follows the lives of a group of women, seen through the eyes of their dead neighbor, as they work through domestic struggles and family life, while facing the secrets, crimes and mysteries hidden behind the doors of their – at the surface – beautiful suburban neighborhood. The show features an ensemble cast, headed by Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer, Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo, Marcia Cross as Bree Hodge, Eva Longoria Parker as Gabrielle Solis, Nicollette Sheridan as Edie Britt and, from season four onwards, Dana Delany as Katherine Mayfair. Brenda Strong narrates the show as the deceased Mary Alice Young.
Since its premiere on ABC on October 3, 2004, the show has been well received by the critics as well as the audience. The show is a multiple Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award winner, and in April 2007 it was reported to be the most popular show in its demographic worldwide, with an audience of approximately 115 to 119 million viewers.
Production
The idea for the series was conceived as Marc Cherry and his mother were watching a news report on Andrea Yates.
Prior to Desperate Housewives, Cherry was best known for producing and writing episodes of Touchstone Television’s hit comedy series The Golden Girls and its successor The Golden Palace. In addition he had created or co-created three sitcoms: The Five Mrs. Buchanans, The Crew and Some of My Best Friends, none of which lasted longer than a year. Initially Cherry had a hard time getting any television network interested in his new series – HBO, CBS, NBC, Fox, Showtime, and Lifetime all turned his offer down. Finally, two new executives at ABC, Lloyd Braun and Susan Lyne, chose to greenlight it. Shortly thereafter, Disney had both Braun and Lyne fired, following their approval of another new drama series: Lost.
The ABC executives weren’t initially satisfied with the name of the new show, suggesting Wisteria Lane and The Secret Lives of Housewives instead, but on October 23, 2003, Desperate Housewives was announced by ABC, presented as a prime time soap opera created by Charles Pratt Jr. of Melrose Place fame, and Marc Cherry, who declared the new show to be a mix of Knots Landing and American Beauty. While Cherry continued his work on the show, Pratt was credited as executive producer for the pilot episode only, remaining linked to the show as a consulting producer during the first two seasons.
On May 18, 2004 ABC announced their 2004–2005 lineup, with Desperate Housewives in the Sunday, 9:00-10:00 p.m., ET slot, which it still holds. After only three episodes aired, on October 20, ABC announced that Desperate Housewives, along with Lost, had been picked up for a full season.
Desperate Housewives is produced by creator Marc Cherry (Cherry Productions), Austin Bagley and Touchstone Television (Fall 2004-Spring 2007), which is now ABC Studios (Fall 2007-present).
On February 11, 2008, ABC picked up Desperate Housewives for the 2008-09 television season. The fifth season of the series debuted on Sunday, September 28.
In the United Kingdom, Channel 4 halted broadcast of the fifth season of Desperate Housewives after Episode 9. Broadcasting is scheduled to continue on Wednesday 25th February @ 10pm with the 10th episode of the season.
Production crew
Executive producers for the first two seasons were – in addition to Marc Cherry – Tom Spezialy and Michael Edelstein. Spezialy, who also served as a staff writer for the show, left his previous position as writer and executive producer for Dead Like Me to join the Desperate Housewives crew. He had also worked as writer and co-executive producer on several shows, among them Ed, Jack and Jill, and Parker Lewis Can't Lose, while Edelstein had been the executive producer of Threat Matrix and Hope & Faith.
Second season conflicts arose among the executive producers. As a result, Edelstein left the show mid-season, and at the end of the season, so did Spezialy. For the third year, Cherry was joined by award winning writer and producer Joe Keenan, of Frasier fame, and telefilm producer George W. Perkins, who had been on the Desperate Housewives crew since the show’s conception.
Although receiving praise for his work on the show, Keenan chose to leave Desperate Housewives after one season to pursue other projects. Replacing him as second-in-command to Cherry and executive producer for the fourth season of the show was Bob Daily, who had joined the crew as a writer and co-executive producer during the third season. Daily’s previous work include writing for the cartoon series Rugrats as well as for Frasier. Also joining Cherry, Perkins and Daily for the fourth season were John Pardee and Joey Murphy, who had been with the series since the beginning. Both had also worked on Cherry’s previous show The Crew in 1995, as well as on the sitcom Cybill.
Larry Shaw and David Grossman have, as of the first four seasons, been the most prominent directors, together directing more than half of the series’ episodes.
Filming
Desperate Housewives is filmed on Panavision 35 mm cameras; it is broadcast in standard and 16:9 widescreen high definition, though it is framed for the 4:3 aspect ratio. The set for Wisteria Lane, consisting mainly of facades but also of some proper houses, is located on the Universal Studios Hollywood back lot. It is referred to by film crews as Colonial Street, and has been used for several motion pictures and television shows since the mid 1940s. Productions to have been filmed here includes, among others, So Goes My Love, Leave it to Beaver, The 'Burbs, Providence, Deep Impact, Bedtime for Bonzo, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Gremlins, The Munsters, Psycho, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Ladykillers and Ghost Whisperer.
Bree's home has a set of windows either side of the front porch. However indoors, windows can only be seen on one side of the front door. This is because the inside of Bree's house is actually shot on a soundstage.
For the second season of Desperate Housewives the street went through some heavy changes. Among the most noticeable of these changes was the removal of a church facade and a mansion in order to make room for Edie’s house and a park.
Opening sequence
The initial idea for the show opening sequence was Cherry’s own, and after having asked sixteen companies to come up with suggestions how to best realize it, the producers finally hired Hollywood-based yU+co to provide the final version. According to the yU+co’s official website, the idea behind the sequence is “to evoke the show's quirky spirit and playful flaunting of women’s traditional role in society”. The images featured are taken from eight pieces of art, portraying domesticity and male-female relations through the ages.
The first image shows Lucas Cranach the Elder’s painting Adam and Eve. A snake passes an apple to Eve before another, larger, apple, with the words ‘Desperate Housewives’ written on it, falls on Adam. Then follows the tomb paintings of Queen Nefertari of Egypt, the Great Royal Wife of Ramesses the Great. An animation of Queen Nefertari is seen standing within her tomb being overwhelmed by what appear to be countless children surrounding her. Next appearing is The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck painted in 1434 – Giovanni Arnolfini is seen eating a banana and throwing the skin on the floor, leaving it for his wife to sweep it away. The painting American Gothic by Grant Wood from 1930 then follows, and the farmer is shown smiling as he is touched on the chin by a pin up as his apparently disapproving wife frowns in front of a tin of canned sardines. The can appears on a kitchen work surface when the World War II poster Am I Proud! is shown, depicting a woman holding cans and jars including Andy Warhol’s Campbell's Soup Cans. The soup can then falls into the hand of a man featured in pop art work by Robert Dale, Couple Arguing and Romantic Couple. After the woman in this pictures is seen crying and giving her male companion a black eye, the image folds away, and the tree from Cranach’s painting reappears with the snake wrapped around it and the four main characters Bree, Lynette, Susan and Gabrielle appearing under the tree, each catching an apple. There is one variation for the opening theme (For DVDs), where Susan is in the Egyptian art, Lynette's in the can of sardines which close, resembling her face, Bree caught an apple, and passes it to Gabrielle.
The music for the openings is composed by Danny Elfman, and has been awarded both an Emmy Award and the BMI TV Music Award. In 2005 it was included on the album Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives.
When an episode is running too long, only the first sequence (the falling apple) is kept. From "Now You Know" and onwards, only the main chorus of the theme is heard, which is the falling apple scene, and the photograph of the four lead actresses, crediting Marc Cherry as creator.
Music
In addition to the theme composed by Danny Elfman, the series underscore music composed by Steve Jablonsky defines the overall sound of the show. The much imitated music creates a musical counterpoint to the writing style and co-exists with the scenes as one of the most identifiable musical styles in television today. The score is electronic based, but every scoring session incorporates a live string ensemble that add a certain intangible warmth to the score. Jablonsky incorporates recurring themes for events and characters into the score. He has been shaping the musical palette for the show since the 2nd episode of the first season.
Hollywood Records produced the first soundtrack album, Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives distributed by Universal Records, featuring music inspired by the series. Several of those songs have since been used in subsequent seasons.
Housewives's unique style combined with the heavy dialogue and quick-fire writing style limit the amount of popular music used in the series. The series' music supervisor, David Sibley works closely with the producers to seamlessly integrate these musical needs into the show. In addition to featured performances by central characters such as Susan Mayer singing along with Rose Royce's "Car Wash" to jog Mike's memory and Lynette's memorable rendition of "Boogie Shoes" atop a bar, several characters have been accomplished musicians, such as Betty Applewhite (a concert pianist) and Dylan Mayfair (a prodigy cellist), all requiring carefully planned training of the actors and preparation of the music. The often eclectic approach to music has created many water cooler moments in the show, among them, Orson's ex-wife Alma singing along with Cole Porter's period recording of "Let's Misbehave" as she drugs him in order to conceive his child and George, the town pharmacist singing "Don't Give Up On Us" on Bree's front lawn as she takes pot shots at him with a shotgun.
Promotional videos
The first season actually featured two promotional videos, one featuring the song "Que Sera" by Pink Martini, was a Channel 4 (UK) promo showing the women on each of their lawns going about their unusual lives. The second featuring the song "Come on Closer" by Jem showing the housewives in a department store with the tag "Everyone has a little dirty laundry."
The second season promotion took on the theme of “Temptations”, and the video featured the song "Juicy" by Better than Ezra. The housewives were all shown in separate scenes, all of which featured red apples. M6 which broadcasts the show in France and TV Azteca which broadcasts the show in México used this promo in a different editing. Channel 4 in the UK had a very limited promotion in the 7 days leading up to the January 18, 2006 start which featured new footage.
The promotion video for the third season, which had the theme of “Right now”, featured the leading characters in a computer generated garden, surrounded by white sheets. The song was a cover of "You Really Got Me", with no artist credited. The promotion video for the UK which had began airing on December 15, 2006 for a January 3, 2007 start, featured 45 seconds of clips which featured some cliffhangers from season 2 and some new material from season 3. The music in the background music was classical. As of this season the promotions became weekly and unlike in other countries, for the first 10 episodes each episode had a little 30 second preview of what was to come the next week. This returned at the end of the season 4 premiere Now You Know.
The video for season four was released in late August 2007 and had the women in different 50s-era setups, all shocked at the arrival of a black car on Wisteria Lane. The tag line was “It’s a hell of a day in the neighborhood”, and it featured the Jennifer Lopez song "Mile in these Shoes", taken from her 2007 album Brave. A cutdown version of this promo aired on RTE Two in Ireland. In the UK the theme was again was a 45 second long clip that featured the season 3 cliffhanger and unlike last time, most of the footage was new, and the majority of the new footage was taken from "Now You Know". The music again was classical. The advertisements had begun on March 13, 2008 and the show returned on March 26, 2008- a total of almost 11 weeks later than normal for starting. Like Season Three the 30 second sneak preview returned, and is likely to remain for the first 15 episodes as a result of being months behind the USA instead of weeks. The reason as to why episode 16 is not giving a preview of episode 17 is because they are serving in the UK as a 2 part season finale on November 25, 2008 also.
The first video promo for the beginning of season five was released on Sunday, July 13, 2008, and showed scenes from the previous season.
The season five promo shows the six leading women in red dresses, to the remake of Fever by Madonna. The video is a montage where each of the actresses, mostly in close-up, alternately display emotions, dance and are flirtatious with the camera. We then see rolling apples and each actress takes a bite of one. A high heeled foot crushes an apple and after a last flash of Eva Longoria Parker, we see the tagline "Even juicier". Then all 6 ladies are walking towards camera, as in the previous videos. It then cuts to Desperate Housewives in front of an apple and some branches with leaves. Another version of the video was used with a different editing with the song Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love).
The Season five promo for the UK was far different from that which had aired in any other country. Promos had started airing immediately after the season 4 finale (which aired a week previous to season five beginning) on October 15 2008. The promo had involved a 30 second bunch of clips in the background, all of which feature in the new season. The music in the background was Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl.
The future and Nicollette Sheridan's departure
On February 20, 2007, Variety Magazine revealed that Marc Cherry and the ABC Studios had signed “an eight-figure overall pact”, ensuring Cherry’s commitment to the show until May 2011, the end of the series’ projected seventh season. In addition, the studio has negotiated deals with “all key members of the cast” to stay on the show until then. While Cherry said that he would like the show to come to an end at that point, ABC Studio’s Mark Pedowitz stated that “We'll cross that bridge when we come to it”.
Marc Cherry also said that it will be probable that the story will return back to the time when Mary Alice was alive, and this is supposed to be in the seventh season (last season).
The series was renewed for a fifth season on February 11, 2008.
As shown in the last minutes of the second half of the two-hour season four finale, season five takes place five years into the future. Due to the time jump, several actors do not return to the show. The child actors won't return (i.e. the Scavo children), as for the teen actors, only one may not return, Lyndsy Fonseca (Dylan). Shawn Pyfrom (Andrew) stays on the show, and as shown in the time jump, he is now Bree's assistant. Although Joy Lauren (Danielle) and Andrea Bowen (Julie) are not staying on the show, they will make guest appearances, Joy Lauren (Danielle), made her first guest appearance in a form of a flashback in the 1st episode of Season 5, "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow", her second guest appearance, not in a form of a flashback, was in the 3rd episode of Season 5, "Kids Ain't Like Everybody Else", while Andrea Bowen (Julie), made her first guest appearance in the 8th episode of Season 5, "City on Fire". James Denton, who plays Mike, told People magazine that he will definitely be returning in season 5. However, "Mike and Susan have definitely split up". Nicollette Sheridan, who plays Edie, returns in season five, and brings with her a new husband, played by Neal McDonough, who is joining the cast of Desperate Housewives as a series regular.
There have been rumors that Desperate Housewives might run until its ninth season. Originally the show was planned for seven seasons. The show's Edie Britt, played by Nicollette Sheridan, will be killed off to end Sheridan's role. According to E! Online, "If there are no script changes, Edie will die before the season ends. She will find out that Dave plans to kill her. When he tries to, Edie escapes only to get involved in an accident that involves a car and electrical wiring.
Writers' strike
Desperate Housewives was affected by the Writers Guild of America strike. The week of November 9, 2007, the cast and crew suspended filming due to the writers’ strikes. On November 30, 2007, what was believed to be the fourth season’s fate was announced. The December 2 episode would be the last until the writers’ strike was resolved. When both parts of the two-parter were already filmed, part one was to be a cliffhanger until the writers strike was resolved and production began again. ABC was looking to have part two be the mid-season premičre once the strike was over and additional episodes were filmed. Marc Cherry called this his cruellest act to date to both viewers and to Desperate Housewives.
That position was changed when ABC announced that part two would not be held until the writers strike ended and production resumed. ABC reversed the decision fearing a loss of viewers. As a result of the reversal, part two aired on Sunday, January 6, 2008. Writers went back to work Tuesday, February 12, 2008.
The show resumed production on Monday, February 25, 2008 with a return airdate of April 13.
ABC said 7 additional episodes to season 4 would be produced (starting with episode 11). Brenda Strong also stated in an interview that the season would have 7 additional episodes; some storylines were cut altogether and they will take place some time after the storm.
Series synopses and episodes
Season 1 (2004-2005)
Season one began its original airing on October 3, 2004 and introduces the four central characters of the show: Susan Mayer, Lynette Scavo, Bree Van de Kamp and Gabrielle Solis, and their families and neighbors on Wisteria Lane. The main mystery of the season is the unexpected suicide of Mary Alice Young, and the involvement of her husband and teenage son in the events leading up to it. While Bree tries to save her marriage, Lynette struggles to find time and energy to cope with her demanding children, Susan fights with Edie Britt for new neighbor Mike Delfino’s affection, and Gabrielle tries to prevent her husband Carlos from discovering her affair with their underage gardener, John Rowland.
Season 2 (2005-2006)
The second season began airing on September 25, 2005 and its central mystery is that of new neighbor Betty Applewhite, who moved in in the middle of the night. Throughout the season, Bree tries to cope with being a widow, unknowingly begins dating the man who poisoned her husband, fights alcoholism, and is unable to prevent the gap between her and her son to keep growing to extremes. Susan’s love life gets even more complicated as her ex-husband gets engaged to Edie, who has been promoted to the role of fifth lead, Lynette goes back to her career in advertising and eventually becomes her husband’s boss, and Gabrielle decides to be faithful to her husband, and begins preparations to have a child.
Season 3 (2006-2007)
In season three, which began airing on September 24, 2006, Bree marries Orson Hodge, whose past and involvement with a recently discovered dead body becomes the main mystery for half of the season. Meanwhile, Lynette has to adjust to having another child around the house, as a previously unknown daughter of her husband arrives. The Scavos also experience tension as Tom, Lynette's husband, wants to start a pizzeria. Gabrielle goes through a rough divorce, but finally finds new love in Fairview’s new mayor. Edie sees her chance to make her move on Mike, who’s suffering from amnesia, and Susan moves onto a handsome Englishman whose wife is in a coma. Edie’s family relations are explored throughout the season. A shooting at the local grocery store leaves one character dead and changes everyone's life forever.
Season 4 (2007-2008)
The fourth season began airing on September 30, 2007, and its main mystery revolves around new neighbor Katherine Mayfair and her family, who returns to Wisteria Lane after twelve years away, whose daughter remembers nothing about living on Wisteria Lane. Also, Lynette battles cancer; the newlywed – but unhappy – Gabrielle starts an affair with her ex-husband Carlos; Susan and Mike enjoy life as a married couple and learn that they are expecting a child; Bree fakes a pregnancy and plans to raise her teenage daughter’s illegitimate child as her own; and Edie schemes to hold on to her new love, Carlos. A gay couple from Chicago – Lee (Kevin Rahm) and Bob (Tuc Watkins) – become residents of Wisteria Lane when they move into the house formerly occupied by Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard), and Gloria and Alma Hodge. A tornado threatens to destroy everything (and one) that the housewives hold dear.
Season 5 (2008-2009)
The fifth season began airing on September 28, 2008, with the time period jumping 5 years ahead of the previous season, with some flashbacks to events which happened between the two periods. One of the first mysteries revolves around Edie Britt's new husband, Dave Williams, played by Neal McDonough. Dave is looking for revenge on someone on Wisteria Lane (later revealed to be Mike Delfino). Susan is dealing with being a single mother and a new romance. Bree and Orson are having marriage problems as she is so focused on her career. Gabrielle and Carlos are dealing with the stress of being parents while struggling with Juanita's obesity problems, Carlos gets the news that his sight may soon return. Lynette and Tom learn that their son Porter is having an affair with a married woman. Playing off of the disaster theme of the previous two seasons, a large-scale fire threatens to change all of their lives. While Carlos gets his sight back and accepts a new profession, Gabrielle has to struggle with their two daughters, Juanita and Celia.
This season featured the show's 100th episode, revolving around Eli Scruggs a handyman who had an important input in all of the ladies' lives. This episode featured flashbacks and returning characters, such as Martha Huber and Rex Van de Kamp. The episode aired on ABC on Sunday, January 18, 2009.
Cast and characters
During its premiere season the show featured thirteen starring actors, all credited in the opening sequence. For the show’s second year, several actors, mainly child and teenage ones, who had guest starred during the first season, were promoted to series regulars without having their names included in the opening sequence. Instead they were billed as “also starring” during the first minutes of each episode, together with episode guest stars. This practice continued for season three and four.
The thirteen starring actors for season one included four leading actresses: Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer, a divorced mother with a sense for humor for drama and in search of love, Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo a former businesswoman turned stressed out stay-at-home mother of four, Marcia Cross as Bree Van de Kamp the seemingly perfect mother struggling to save her marriage, and Eva Longoria Parker as Gabrielle Solis, an ex-model whose unhappy marriage has had her beginning an affair with her 17-year-old gardener. Furthermore, Nicollette Sheridan plays Edie Britt, Susan’s arch rival, described by her as “the neighborhood slut”, who since then slowly had grown to become somewhat of a fifth lead. Steven Culp played Rex Van de Kamp, Bree’s frustrated husband with secret sexual desires, while Ricardo Antonio Chavira portrayed Gabrielle’s spouse Carlos Solis, a rough business man who regarded his wife mainly as a trophy, and James Denton acted as Mike Delfino, the mysterious new neighbor who becomes Susan’s love interest. Brenda Strong portrayed the show’s narrator Mary Alice Young, who generally doesn’t appear in front of the camera, and whose unexpected suicide in the first episode remained a mystery throughout season one. Mark Moses played Paul Young, Mary Alice’s widower, who went to extremes not to have the reason for his wife’s suicide revealed, and Cody Kasch acted as Zach Young, the troubled teenage son of Paul and Mary Alice, who eventually turned out to be Mike’s biological son. Finally, Andrea Bowen took the part of Susan’s caring and kind-hearted teenage daughter Julie Mayer, and Jesse Metcalfe played John Rowland, Gabrielle’s teenage gardener/lover.
For the second season, Culp and Metcalfe left as show regulars, as Rex had died from a heart attack and Gabrielle had ended her relationship with John. Several actors who had appeared as guest stars during the entire run of the first season were promoted to regulars for the second year, including Doug Savant as Tom Scavo, Lynette’s husband who for the second season quit his job determined to become a stay-at-home dad; Brent Kinsman, Shane Kinsman and Zane Huett as Preston, Porter and Parker Scavo, Lynette’s and Tom’s rascal boys; Shawn Pyfrom as Bree’s complicated gay son Andrew Van de Kamp; and Joy Lauren as Danielle Van de Kamp, Andrew’s hardheaded sister. Alfre Woodard and Mehcad Brooks joined the cast as Betty Applewhite and her son Matthew, who moved to the street in the middle of the night in order for the neighbors not to discover that they had Betty’s other son Caleb – originally played by Page Kennedy but soon replaced by NaShawn Kearse – locked up in the basement. Also joining the main cast for the second season, after guest starring in a few season one episodes, were Richard Burgi as Karl Mayer, Susan's ex-husband who becomes engaged to Edie, and Roger Bart as George Williams, Bree's pharmacist, and later obsessed fiancée, who had caused Rex's death. Bart, however left the show mid- season, due to the suicide of George.
As the Applewhite mystery was solved in the second season finale, Woodard, Brooks and Kearse all had left the show when the third season begun. As had Mark Moses, as Paul was framed for murder and incarcerated, Cody Kasch, due to Zach's becoming a millionaire after causing his ill biological grandfather to die and thereby inheriting his entire fortune, and Richard Burgi, following Karl being dumped by both Susan and Edie. Two additions were made to the main cast for season three: Kyle MacLachlan as Orson Hodge, who marries Bree and whose dark family history serves as the main mystery for most of the season, and Josh Henderson, playing Edie's bad boy nephew Austin McCann, who starts a relationship with Julie, but ends up getting Danielle pregnant and left the series mid-season.
For the fourth season, after having appeared as a guest star during season three, Rachel Fox was added to the main cast playing Kayla Huntington, Tom's daughter from a previous "one night stand". Also joining the main cast were Dana Delany and Lyndsy Fonseca as Katherine and Dylan Mayfair, a mother and teenage daughter who lived on Wisteria Lane twelve years earlier but had left the street. Dana Delany's character is married to Dr. Adam Mayfair played by Nathan Fillion. Joining the cast in the fourth episode were Kevin Rahm and Tuc Watkins as a gay couple, Lee McDermott and Bob Hunter, who move in next door to Susan. Actor Gary Cole joined the cast as a recurring character in the eleventh episode and played the ex-husband of Katherine Mayfair, Dana Delany's character.
Neal McDonough joined the cast of Desperate Housewives as a series regular in season 5. He is the new husband of Nicollette Sheridan's character, Edie Britt.
Max and Charlie Carver have been cast as Porter and Preston Scavo, Joshua Moore as Parker Scavo and Kendall Applegate as Penny Scavo. Gail O'Grady, Peter Onorati and Gale Harold have also been confirmed to join the show as recurring characters. Storylines involving Gale Harold's character needed to be placed on hold after he sustained injuries in a motorcycle accident. There is a slight possibility, however, that Gale Harold's recovery may not be speedy, and that he might not return to the show. Madison De La Garza and Daniella Baltodano also joined the cast as Juanita and Celia Solis (respectively), the young daughters of Carlos and Gabrielle Solis.
The show also features a large number of recurring guest stars, the most prominent being Kathryn Joosten and Pat Crawford Brown as elderly neighbors Karen McCluskey and Ida Greenberg. Others include Dougray Scott as Ian Hainsworth, Susan's season three love interest; Harriet Sansom Harris as Felicia Tilman, in search for her sister’s murderer during the first two seasons; Ryan Carnes as Justin, Andrew's boyfriend during season one and two; John Slattery as Victor Lang, former mayor of Fairview and Gabrielle's husband; Bob Gunton as Noah Taylor, the wealthy father of Mike's deceased fiancé and the biological grandfather of Zach, appearing during the first two seasons; and Gail O'Grady as Anne, a real estate agent who is having an affair with an underage Porter.
Actress Swoosie Kurtz is guest starring on Desperate Housewives.
Casting
Eva Longoria Parker was the first reported to have landed a starring role, on February 9, 2004,
followed by Felicity Huffman (February 10),
Teri Hatcher (February 18),
James Denton and Ricardo Antonio Chavira (February 26),
Marcia Cross (March 1),
Sheryl Lee, Mark Moses, and Cody Kasch (March 3),
Andrea Bowen and Kyle Searles (March 4),
and Michael Reilly Burke (March 8).
On May 18, 2004 ABC announced their 2004–2005 lineup, with Desperate Housewives as one of its new shows, starring an ensemble cast of these twelve names.
On July 2, after having shot the first pilot, ABC announced that Lee, Searles and Burke were to be replaced by Brenda Strong, Jesse Metcalfe and Steven Culp, respectively. While Lee was turned down after producers rethought the character of Mary Alice, Searles was replaced because of the lack of chemistry between him and his onscreen lover, Eva Longoria. Steven Culp had been the producer's first choice for the part as Rex Van De Kamp, but as he had missed a meeting with the ABC executive to complete shooting for another television show, Star Trek: Enterprise, the part had been offered to Burke instead. After the original pilot was filmed, Culp was off the Enterprise cast, and when asked again Culp accepted the part, and Burke was let go.
Early reports also had different names for some of the characters: Andrea Bowen’s character, who was originally said to be named Jenna, ended up being named Julie when the show begun to air, and Mary Alice’s last name, which had originally been reported to be Scott, had been changed to Young.
On August 11, with less than two months left until the series’ premiere, a thirteenth name was announced to have been added to the list of contracted stars: Nicollette Sheridan, who would portray Edie Britt in a role originally conceived to be recurring. Nicollette originally auditioned for the part of Bree Van De Kamp. Regarding Nicollette Sheridan's departure during season 4, Marc Cherry replied that she is "gone and won’t be back for a few years." However, this was clearly a hint at the time leap as Dana Delany has confirmed she will be back.
During the second year of the show the recasting of the new character Caleb Applewhite caused some media interest. Original actor Page Kennedy was taken off the cast after only five episodes aired. According to ABC, this was due to Kennedy’s “improper conduct”, with National Enquirer claiming that he had flashed some of his female co-stars. Kennedy was quickly replaced by NaShawn Kearse, but denied any improper actions from his part, even releasing a rap song, “Hold On”, telling his version of the story.
On November 20 2008, TV Guide reported that Polly Bergen will reprise her role as Stella Wingfield for at least two more episodes this season.
After five seasons, Nicollette Sheridan, who plays blonde-bombshell realtor Edie Britt on the ABC comedy, is leaving the show, a spokeswoman for the network said on February 11 2009. Nicollette Sheridan's character will be written off in a deadly car crash. Edie is set to discover her husband, Dave Williams is plotting to kill her. A show insider said: "Dave almost does kill her. She runs out of the house, but, alas, poor Edie gets in an accident, something involving her car and electrical wire."
Reception
Seasonal ratings in the United States
| Season | Timeslot (EDT) | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Rank | Viewers
(in millions) |
|---|
|
| 1 | Sunday 9.00 P.M. | October 3, 2004 | May 22, 2005 | 2004-2005 | #4 | 23.0 |
|---|
|
| 2 | Sunday 9.00 P.M. | September 25, 2005 | May 21, 2006 | 2005-2006 | #4 | 21.7 |
|---|
|
| 3 | Sunday 9.00 P.M. | September 24, 2006 | May 20, 2007 | 2006-2007 | #10 | 17.5 |
|---|
|
| 4 | Sunday 9.00 P.M. | September 30, 2007 | May 18, 2008 | 2007-2008 | #6 | 18.2 |
|---|
|
| 5 | Sunday 9.00 P.M. | September 28, 2008 | May, 2009 | 2008-2009 | #9 | 15.41 |
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The premiere year
The show was the biggest success of the 2004–2005 television season, being well-received by both critics and viewers. The pilot episode had 21.3 million viewers making it the best new drama for the year, the highest rated show of the week, and the best performance by a pilot for ABC, since Spin City in 1996.
Along with Lost, Desperate Housewives was credited to have turned around ABC’s declining fortunes. Many critics agreed with Cherry’s initial comparison to the popular black comedy film American Beauty, while its themes and appeal to female viewers were compared to those of the award winning TV show Sex and the City, and its mysteries were said to resemble those of David Lynch’s classic TV series Twin Peaks. In its first review, USA Today proclaimed the show to be “refreshingly original, bracingly adult and thoroughly delightful” and naming it to be “sort of Knots Landing meets The Golden Girls by way of Twin Peaks”.
Following the initial success of the show, the term "desperate housewives" became a cultural phenomenon. This warranted "real life desperate housewives" features in TV shows, including The Dr. Phil Show,
and in magazines. Among the more prominent names to declare themselves fans of the show were Oprah Winfrey, who also dedicated an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show to her visit at the film set; and the former First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush, who, in a speech during a dinner with White House Correspondents' Association on April 30, 2005, stated "Ladies and gentlemen, I am a desperate housewife", referring to the show.
The show ended up being the fourth most watched in the United States during the 2004-2005 season, with 23.7 million viewers each week. The first season finale was watched by 30.62 million American viewers.
Later years
For its second year, the show still maintained its ratings – with 22.2 million viewers, it reclaimed its position as the number four most watched show. However, several critics started to notice a declining quality of the show’s script,
and USA Today’s Robert Bianco suggested that the part of the show getting “less good” was that showrunner Cherry had left much of the series writing in the hands of others. Mid through the season executive producer Michael Edenstein left the show due to conflicts with Cherry and in May 2006, just a couple of weeks prior to the second season finale, so did Tom Spezialy. After the end of the season, Cherry would agree to the second year’s weaker script and also agreed that it had been a mistake to let go too much of the show. He now stated that he was back full time, claiming that both he and the writing staff had learned from their mistakes.
The critics generally agreed on the improved quality for the third year,
but the overall ratings fell notably from previous seasons. Due to complications from her pregnancy Marcia Cross was put on permanent bed rest. After filming one episode from her own personal bedroom she was forced to take maternity leave with six episodes of season three still remaining. It was predicted that the ratings would be down by over 25% since the premiere year. However, for the last three episodes of the season, the rating turned somewhat, and the season ended up with 17.5 million viewers, falling from number four to number ten on the list of most watched shows. Notable, however, was that the show’s rating among viewers age 18–24, which increased from the previous season.
For its fourth season, the series proved to have staying power. The series averaged 18.2 million viewers. Ratings peaked in Episode 9 where 20.6 million viewers tuned in to see the heavily marketed tornado episode hit Wisteria Lane. The show has once again moved back up into the top 5 highest rated programs so far in the 2007-2008 season, being the #1 ABC drama and beating popular medical drama Grey's Anatomy for the first time in 2 years. It also became for the first time the #1 scripted show, beating CSI.
In 2006, the American cable network Bravo launched a reality show, The Real Housewives of Orange County, in the footsteps of the “real life desperate housewives” phenomenon.
According to a survey of twenty countries conducted in 2006 by Informa Telecoms and Media, Desperate Housewives was the third most viewed TV show in the world, after fellow American series CSI: Miami and Lost. During a fund raising auction for the British child charity ChildLine in December 2006, a walk-on part in Desperate Housewives had the highest bid, Ł17,000, beating Daniel Craig’s James Bond tuxedo from Casino Royale.
Awards and nominations
For its premiere season, the show was awarded six Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. The nominations of all of the leading actresses except Eva Longoria Parker for both Golden Globes and Emmys received some media interest. While Longoria Parker seemingly didn’t bother, stating for the press that “I'm new. I just arrived. I didn’t expect at all to be in the minds of the Academy.”, Marc Cherry regarded them being left out as a “horrendous error”. In the end, the Emmy went to Felicity Huffman, while Teri Hatcher received the Golden Globe, as well as a Screen Actors Guild award.
The show’s second Golden Globe Award for its first year was for Best Musical or Comedy TV Series, while the other Emmys went to Kathryn Joosten for her guest role as Karen McCluskey (beating, among others, fellow cast member Lupe Ontiveros), Charles McDougall for his direction of the pilot episode, Danny Elfman’s theme music, the picture editing of the pilot, and the casting of the series. The entire cast was awarded a Screen Actors Guild Award, and Nicollette Sheridan was nominated for a Supporting Actress Golden Globe.
In 2006 the show continued to receive several nominations. It was awarded with yet another Golden Globe for Best TV Musical or Comedy Series, and all the four leading women received Golden Globe nominations, although none of them won. The cast ensemble was awarded with another SAG Award, as was Felicity Huffman. Emmys nominations included, among others, guest actress Shirley Knight and supporting actress Alfre Woodard, although none of the resulted in an actual award.
The show did continue to be nominated in 2007 – Felicity Huffman was granted an Emmy nomination for the second time, and guest actresses Laurie Metcalf and Dixie Carter also received Emmy nominations. The show, along with actresses Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman, received Golden Globe nominations, and Huffman and the cast ensemble were also nominated for SAGs. None of the Golden Globe, Emmy or SAG nominations resulted in any actual awards.
2008 yielded the least nominations with none at the Golden Globes and only the cast being nominated at the SAGs. The show was nominated for four Emmys, including acting nods towards Polly Bergen and Kathryn Joosten for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. Joosten won the show's seventh Emmy and first since its debut year.
Other notable awards include the 2005 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Drama, the Future Classic Award at the 2005 TV Land Awards, the 2006 TP de Oro for Best Foreign Series, and the Golden Nymph at the 2007 Monte-Carlo TV Festival, among others.
Screen adaptations
On February 26, 2007, The Walt Disney Company announced that four South American versions of the show were about to begin production: one for Argentina, one for Colombia, one for Brazil and one for Ecuador. Later on, the Colombian and Ecuadorean productions merged, leaving three Latin American shows:
The Argentine version, called Amas de Casa Desesperadas, began airing in 2006. The first year proved successful enough for a second season to begin production. The first season of the version for Colombia (RCN TV) and Ecuador (Teleamazonas), also entitled Amas de Casa Desesperadas, began airing in Ecuador on May 2007, and airs five days a week. The Brazilian version, Donas de Casa Desesperadas began airing on RedeTV! in August 2007.
In addition, a second US version is being developed for the Spanish television network Univision. Just as the two previous Spanish versions, it is to be named Amas de Casa Desesperadas, and the production began in July 2007.
International broadcasts
The show is broadcast in many countries worldwide. In the United Kingdom it is broadcast on Channel 4 and E4, and on S4C in Wales. The first season was aired on 5 January 2005 on Channel 4. Episodes are shown first on E4 on a Sunday night at 10pm, followed by its main showing on Wednesdays on Channel 4 at 10pm, followed by a repeat at the earlier time of 9pm on E4 the following Sunday. Both Channel 4 and E4 have timeshift services of one hour. Therefore, each episode is shown a total of six times by the company.
Times on S4C in Wales are much later and vary due to Welsh language programming airing in prime-time. Episodes generally air between 11pm and 2am. Viewers in Wales who have digital television can watch the Channel 4 and E4 showings. Following digital switchover due to complete in Wales in 2009, episodes will cease to be broadcast on S4C as the whole of Wales will have access to Channel 4.
Internet Ratings
In its first public release of online individual TV program rankings, The Nielsen Company announced that the series had 723,000 unique viewers in December 2008 (Scrubs drew 519,000). When ranked by time spent per viewer in December 2008, CWTV.com’s Gossip Girl drew 140.0 minutes per viewer while The Young And The Restless drew 323,000 viewers and 115.6 minutes.
Other media and merchandise
DVD releases
| DVD Name | Region 1 | Region 2
(UK and Ireland release) | Region 4 | Region 5 | No of discs | No of episodes |
|---|
| The Complete First Season | September 20, 2005 | October 10, 2005 | November 28, 2005 | July 18, 2006 | 6 (Reg. 1,2 and 4)
5 (Reg. 5) | 23 | | The Complete Second Season | August 30, 2006 | November 13, 2006 | October 4, 2006 | June 28, 2007 | 7 (Reg. 2 and 4)
6 (Reg. 1 and 5) | 23 (Region 1)
24 (Region 2) | | The Complete Seasons One and Two | | November 13, 2006 | October 24, 2006 | | 13 | 46 | | The Complete Third Season | September 4, 2007 | November 5, 2007 | October 31, 2007 | December 13, 2007
(the release was cancelled) | 6 | 23 | | The Complete Seasons 1-3 | | November 19, 2007 | | | 19 | 70 | | The Complete Fourth Season | September 2, 2008 | November 3, 2008 | October 29, 2008 | | 5 | 17 | | The Complete Seasons 1-4 | | November 3, 2008 | | | 24 | 87 | | The Complete Fifth Season | | | | | 6 | 24 |
Soundtrack and literature
In September 2005, Hollywood Records released a CD (distributed by Universal Music), Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives, featuring music inspired by the series, as well as sound clips taken from the first season of the show. The songs included have been described as promoting “girl power”, and among the artists appearing – all being female – were LeAnn Rimes, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain. Controversially, no originally composed music from the show is included on the CD.
Two books has been officially released within the Desperate Housewives franchise. In September 2005 ABC’s sister company Hyperion Books released Desperate Housewives: Behind Closed Doors (ISBN 978-1401-3082-61), a companion to the first season of the show, written by the production team behind the series. One year later, in October 2006, Hyperion published The Desperate Housewives Cookbook – Juicy Dishes and Saucy Bits (ISBN 978-1401-3027-71). In addition, official wall calendars, featuring shots taken from the series, were published by Andrews McMeel Publishing for 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Four unauthorized books written from different points of view were released in 2006. Delicious Housewives, A Novel of Erotica, by International best-selling author Tamarias Tyree (ISBN 978-0930865795), from RSVP Press, is an erotic parody of the popular TV series featuring the housewives' sexual misadventures which eventually lead them to an appearance on the Jerry Springer Show...
Reading ‘Desperate Housewives’: Beyond the White Picket Fence (ISBN 978-1845-1122-02), from I.B. Tauris, is an academic look at the show by film studies lecturers Janet McCabe and Kim Akassm, Welcome to Wisteria Lane: On America’s Favorite Desperate Housewives (ISBN 978-1932-1007-92), published by BenBella Books, consists of seventeen essays written from a feminist perspective, and in Chalice Press’ Not-so-desperate: Fantasy, Fact And Faith on Wisteria Lane (ISBN 0-8272-2513-X) author Shawnthea Monroe is giving a Christian interpretation of the show. Also, following the “real life desperate housewives” phenomenon, several books have been released dealing with life strategies for contemporary women.
Fashion dolls
In December 2006 it was announced that the characters of Bree, Gabrielle, Edie, Susan and Lynette were to be made into tall fashion dolls, produced by Madame Alexander. In 2007 they were released in a limited edition of 300 pieces each. A perfume was also released, named Forbidden Fruit.
External links
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